What I Saw
by Azzamonkeyman
Summary: when Marla is brought in front of a court for questioning over the RMS Titanic's sinking she must relive the horror that was the 15th of April 1912, and tell how she and her husband Charles jumped from the dying ship and watched her vanish into the sea...


He took her by the hand, steadied himself as the ground beneath his feet shifted once again, and then began to push his way through the dense mobs of screaming, panicking, passengers. He and his wife were only two of 1500 souls abandoned and left to fight for their lives on the doomed luxury liner. Now that all the lifeboats had either been lowered to safety or washed off the sinking boat deck, it was a fight for survival aboard the dying vessel, surrounded for miles in every direction by nothing but the dark and icy Atlantic Ocean. And above, just a black, vast and endless blanket of stars. God sat upon these stars, watching the tragic spectacle unfold before them. And as all these people prayed for their lives, they did absolutely nothing to help… perhaps that's what they deserved after daring to challenge the Gods with The Titanic: man's largest and most powerful creation ever made… "God himself could not sink this ship!" said Bruce Ismay only days ago… sadly, he was wrong.

He made it to an empty lifeboat davit, the falls trailing down from the boat deck past the side of the ship, and into the darkness below that was the cruel sea. He surveyed the scene around him. Everyone aboard was making their way to the stern of the ship, as far from the sinking forward section as possible. But as the forward section sank lower, the rear end of the ship rose from the water, angling upwards more and more with each passing second. He knew that she couldn't hold out much longer, and that it would be hopeless trying to get to the stern when the crowds were pushing and shoving and causing such disruption. He didn't blame them. Everyone was afraid. Even he was afraid. But he couldn't show his fear; he had to stay strong for his wife, who held onto his hand tighter than she had ever held it before. She couldn't look down off the side of the ship, terrified of the great height at which they stood. Instead she stared at his face, knowing that he was formulating a plan of action.

"We need to jump."

"What?"

"Marla, if we don't jump now then the ship will take us down with her."

"But if we jump, or if we go down with the ship, then we'll be in the water either way, it's all the same, Charles."

"But it's not! Marla, the lifeboats aren't rowing away to mock us. They have to row away to avoid the suction."

Marla looked at Charles with a terrified, but puzzled expression. "Suction?"

"As the ship goes down, the ocean around it will pour into her bowels… anything near the ship will get dragged down with it… and it won't come back up in any hurry… not with a ship this big… the suction would drown us for sure." He hated to be so blunt with her, but it was the truth, and there was no point in trying to sweeten the situation. People had already died, over a thousand more were about to, and Charles knew this.

"So when we jump… what do we do?" Her voice was quiet and shaky. He could barely hear it over the screams and voices of the 1500 others around them.

"We swim." he looked out at the ocean. It was so dark, he could only just make out the faint grey blur of lifeboats down below, keeping a safe distance from the ship

"Charles… why can't we just stay inside, go have a drink? I saw a few gentlemen in the Palm Court having a game of cards." She smiled nervously, taking both of his hands, trying to sway him.

He resisted her attempts and forcefully pulled her closer, trying to bring her back to reality. "Marla, if we go inside now then we WILL die! The water will flood the place and we'll be trapped. That's worse than staying out here on deck! We jump, and then we swim with all our might to make it over to one of those lifeboats, and-"

"But it's so cold, the water will kill us within minutes if we don't make it to the boat in time!"

"And the water will kill us within seconds if we stay inside! We have more of a chance if we jump. At least when we're in the water we don't need to worry about being on this ship anymore. That'll be the biggest problem off our hands."

"But what about them?" Marla looked over her husbands shoulder and stared in a trance at the throng of passengers still left on the stricken liner.

"It's every man for himself, you heard Captain Smith. We can't worry about everybody else. All I care about is you, Marla." He held her face and kissed her frozen lips, stroking her hair adoringly. She returned the embrace and wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling his cold nose brush against hers.

They pulled away from one another, and at that moment, something caught their eye. A blur of colour came flying past them, a scream that faded into silence, and then a great splash. They looked down and saw white ripples in the ocean below where someone had just landed. Then, a strong looking man, in his late 50s perhaps, shouted down in a Scottish accent, "I'm right behind you, Margaret, don't go anywhere!" and in an instant he had leapt off of the edge of the boat deck and was descending into the darkness, flailing his arms and legs, desperately dreaming of landing on solid ground, but instead, he crashed into the water head first… Charles and Marla never heard his distinctive voice again.

"You see? It'll be fine. We can go together. I'll just check your life belt, make sure it's on nice and tight." He got down on one knee and fastened the belt tighter, his mind at ease in the knowledge that she would at least stay afloat in the water.

"Charles." Marla piped up weakly.

"You just jump, and then start swimming, even if you can't see me, you just head for that lifeboat."

"Charles, I-"

He continued to talk, not able to hear her, "We can jump down together, holding hands, and do NOT let go of my hand. That way we won't get separated."

"But, Charles…"

"And it will be cold, I know, but we won't be swimming for long. We'll be in a lifeboat sipping Coco before you know it, and-"

"Charles, I can't swim!" Marla shouted, shutting her eyes, shaking with the cold around her and the fear within her.

Charles looked up at her slowly, his mouth open in shock, wide eyed at this revelation. "You what?"

"I've never been able to swim."

"You haven't learned how?"

"I didn't think it necessary, because I never thought I'd be fighting for my life on a sinking ship!"

Suddenly, the ship lurched forward and settled further into the water, the ground tilting more than ever. A sound of smashing plates echoed from inside the Palm Court Café, and the metal of the ship groaned as if in pain as she took her final breaths. Marla almost lost her balance and stumbled slightly, but Charles grabbed her hand tightly and pulled her into him, holding her close. She began to sob, knowing that she would have to jump now, or else the ship would drag them down with it. He kissed her head and said into her ear, "Hold my hand, It's going to be alright. Just keep your arms and legs moving, the life belt will keep you a float, and I'll guide you over to the lifeboat. We're gonna make it out of this alive, Marla. I promised your father that I would protect you when we got married, and I'm not about to give up now." He held out his hand. "Do you trust me?"

She looked down at his hand, and then up at his warm and smiling face, her eyes red with crying. "I do." she took his hand and he clasped his around hers with all his might, kissed the back of her hand, and then shouted, "Now!" and with that, he stepped off the side of the ship, bringing her down with him. The descent was long and dark, the occasional flash of light as they fell past blazing saloon windows and portholes, but then, there was nothing but black. A cold rush of wind blew Marla's hair over her face and made her dress fly up around her, but feeling Charles' hand in hers kept her screams of terror at bay. And then, after about 5 seconds of falling, an unbelievably freezing and icy pain shot through both of their bodies, and the sea engulfed them.

The fall seemed to continue as they sank deeper into the depths of the water, but then Charles began kicking his legs and moving his arms, and Marla done as he did. An ominous green glow shone down on them from above. Charles looked down, his eyes open and turning to balls of ice, but he had to make sure Marla was alright. She was swimming. It's an instinctive thing, he thought to himself. It's do or die, and swimming was something she HAD to do. Looking over to the side, he saw rows and rows of portholes and square windows, still glowing under the surface of the ocean, but fading on and off slightly. The first two funnels had already collapsed from their upright position as the Titanic angled herself into the water, crushing anyone beneath them. They must have already begun their descent to the ocean floor.

And then they felt the bitterly crisp night air, biting their faces and necks and turning the water still on them into a thin layer of frost. Marla gasped desperately for air and Charles rubbed his eyes, spitting out the salty sea water from his mouth.

"Come one, we're away from the ship now, we need to start swimming." He held her hand and kicked his legs, thrashing his arms and began moving away from the glowing disaster that loomed over them. Marla mustered up all of her strength and kicked her legs and splashed her arms forward, the next goal being the lifeboat that Charles spoke so highly of… but where was it?

"Ch-Charles?... where's the-the boat?" she shivered as she spoke.

"It'll b-be right ahead of us. We j-just need to kee-keep moving."

And so they did keep moving… and kept moving… until eventually they were utterly exhausted. Their limbs and joints were stiff and their vision was blurred. Even their hearing seemed affected, as the screams and cries from the ship behind them seemed distorted. They had been in the water for almost 5 minutes now, and Charles had to stop moving, because he could no longer move. He couldn't tell Marla, for that would only make her panic even more than she was, but he was in excruciating agony… little did he know that so was she, but she had to ignore it.

"Charles… wh-what are you doing?" Her voice was quiet and weak, almost inaudible.

"I… I ca… I can't." He struggled to even speak.

"But we-" before she could even finish her sentence, she realized that the light illuminating the surrounding ocean was flickering. She turned to face The Titanic, and saw half of the ship sticking out of the water, her rear still rising high into the air. Her third funnel collapsed, and as it hit the water with an almighty splash, the lights all over the ship flickered once and went out altogether, plunging everything into perpetual darkness. The distant voices of those still on the dying vessel screamed in fear as the lights, which had provided them with a certain comfort all night, vanished without warning.

"Charles!" Marla screamed, but not a strong scream, however loud enough to catch his attention. He gripped her hand and reassured her. "It's alright M-Marla… The lights ha-had to go out event-eventually. Come on, we n-need to keep moving."

What happened then in the middle of this inky blackness that had taken hold was so loud and sudden, and neither of them knew what was happening. The dark silhouette of the titanic standing against the starry night sky faded in and out of focus, but as Marla began to swim again, there was a smashing sound, and then several more, and then cracking and snapping and crunching on such an intense scale, coming from within the ship.

The groans and creaks of metal bending and breaking echoed across the bodies and lifeboats in the water. Marla was so confused, and in her semi-conscious state, stopped swimming to try and see what was happening. It was so unbelievably dark. Charles tried to keep her moving, pulling her on, but she froze on the spot, her life belt keeping her bobbing there like a cork. She couldn't see the ship, but she could certainly hear it. The noises of small explosions and large blasts of water emanated from the distance.

But then, the most horrifying sound that Marla has ever witnessed. She heard each voice on that ship scream and howl and cry in unison, loudly and clearly, fearing for their lives. But what made these screams so traumatizing was the fact that they all screamed at the same time that there seemed to be a great eruption of destruction and tearing of metal. Was the ship breaking apart? Did it blow up? What had happened? The roar of the 1500 screams went up like fans at a baseball game when a player gets a home run… only this was no game.

Marla listened to the screams, completely hypnotized, not even noticing that Charles was urging her to keep swimming. And suddenly, out of the darkness, and almighty wave came hurtling towards her, punching her in the face and crashing over her. Icy cold sea water and debris sent her hurtling back, making her squeal in terror and shock. She was submerged momentarily, and then came back up, fighting to breathe. She could hear nothing but an eternal chorus of screaming and the sounds of the Titanic as she made her final plunge into the Sea, her structure buckling and sighing, almost in relief that the nights' ordeals were almost over.

But where was Charles? She was no longer holding his hand! The wave must have knocked them apart. She began feeling around frantically for him, screaming out his name over and over, trying to compete with the dying ship as it was devoured by the Atlantic only yards away from her. It was so dark, and cold, and loud… so loud… and then it was quiet… eerily quiet… a stillness… and then the screams started up again, the ocean itself calmer now that The Titanic was gone… and so was Charles.

"So the ship did in fact break?" Asked the man in the sharp suit with round spectacles.

"I'm not entirely sure, Sir… I believe so… "

"How can you not be sure? You were there."

"Indeed I was… but it was dark… so, so dark… and I didn't see the ship after her power went out."

"But you heard it, yes?"

"Yes." Marla nodded, shifting uncomfortably in the hard wooden chair on which she sat. The thought of that fateful night almost a month ago terrified her still.

"And what did you hear, exactly?" The man leaned against the table behind him, covered with papers. Among them, eye witness testimony's, including her own, which was being written as she spoke.

"I heard carnage. Metal breaking and tearing apart… glass smashing… wood splitting and snapping… explosions, I think."

"You think?"

"Well, I heard explosions, yes… but, what on the Titanic could have exploded?"

Her questioner pushed his glasses further up his nose and picked up a large sheet of blue paper and began inspecting it. She assumed it was the blueprints and layouts of the Titanic. "Her boilers, perhaps? Her electricity generators… a number of things actually."

"I suppose so…" She couldn't help but remember vividly the nightmare that she was still to recover from.

"And before the power went out, what was the sate of the ship then? How much of the ship had vanished beneath the ocean by that point?" He took out a white pencil from his pocket and lay it on the blueprints, watching her expectantly.

Marla was silent for a moment, but not because she was struggling to remember. She could remember perfectly well. The image in her mind of the Titanic's final stance with all her lights still glowing brilliantly, it was enough to give her shivers. "I could see… half…half of the ship… her final two funnels were still visible… her first two were submerged."

"So half of the ship was sticking out of the water?"

"Yes."

"How are you at maths, Mrs Spencer?"

"Pardon?"

"Maths… angles in particular."

"Competent enough, I think." she was confused.

"So when you last saw the Titanic, what angle was she standing at, exactly…or to the best of your knowledge."

She thought for a second, remembering the waterline that was swallowing the vessel, and her keel angled high above the water, her propellers looming over those in the water like Gods. And then she replied, "40, possibly 50 degrees… and still rising."

"And after that, you saw nothing."

"Nothing."

"And minutes after she disappeared beneath the waves Officer Lowe here found you near his lifeboat and took you aboard to safety, is that right?" He signalled to the man in the dark blue suit sitting at the table. "That's right, yes." Mr Lowe smiled at Marla slightly, that same look in his eyes that she had in hers. They had seen an event so nightmarish, and they would never forget it, and it would be carried with them for life… they were the survivors… and even if they bumped into one another 50 years from now, they would recognize the other with that look in their eyes… for it will never fade.

"Thank you very much Mrs Spencer, you've been most helpful… we're terribly sorry for your loss." The man took off his gold framed spectacles and rubbed them on his silk handkerchief.

"I'm most happy to help with the enquiries… but I do have something to say before I go."

The court seemed to be caught off guard, and focussed all attention back onto the tired looking woman in the witness stand. "Of course... what might that be?"

"Next time you ship builders and designers and architects wish to deem something "unsinkable," at least wait until it's made it's first voyage successfully... or just don't call it unsinkable at all… you'll only get our hopes up…and look where we are now." As she spoke, tears streamed down her face, and she stroked her wedding ring lovingly… At least some metal objects would last.


End file.
